


A Bitter Cheese

by joycestick



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 18:34:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13370679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joycestick/pseuds/joycestick
Summary: After losing to Charlotte, Mami shares a sad moment with her long-gone cousin Nagisa.





	A Bitter Cheese

**Author's Note:**

> If you've never seen my work before, I write a lot of Persona 5 fanfic. Someone commented asking if I might write for other fandoms, and while I have written one Death Note fic that didn't take off, and a Haruhi Suzumiya/P5 crossover, that's... that's all. That's all the stuff that's not Persona.
> 
> I've been obsessing over Madoka lately, and after seeing the comment asking if I'd diversify my fics a little, I conjured a headcanon up in my mind which I then decided to act on to the best of my abilities. So here we go. Any and all critique is welcome, I've never written any PMMM fic before, and this was done on a whim in about... three to four hours of effort? So, sorry if I made mistakes. Hope you enjoy this sad story.

_ I’m not afraid of anything anymore… because… I’m not alone anymore! _

As I burst through the chocolate-covered door to the center of the Labyrinth, not once did it cross my mind that this place was familiar. It should have been. I should have known. But I was too enchanted by Madoka Kaname’s promise that she would go with me. That I, Mami Tomoe, magical girl, would have a partner. A friend, at last.

And then she had appeared. I rushed forth, confident and headstrong, blowing her to the ground in one fell swoop. It was easy. Too easy.

She always was such a timid child, after all. Or perhaps I subconsciously went easy on her, as I was reminded of her by this place. Even as I was swept up in the promise of my delightful future— becoming one half of a magical girl duo.

Even as I didn’t want to acknowledge being in this place again. Twisted as it was, I should have recognized it. But I didn’t want to recover those memories of her. And that almost certainly contributed to my undoing. If I’d seen it, taken notice of the reminiscence, perhaps I would have realized how truly wrong it was that this place existed.

Had I done so, perhaps I would still be alive.

* * *

_ Cheese… _

* * *

I heard no screams. I only felt my mind go numb, as my neck was so deftly, so efficiently gnawed apart. And then I felt nothing. It was a sharp, pointed jolt of pain, almost as if an electric shock, and then nothing.

It wasn’t as if I’d expected much from my death— I was a magical girl, after all. I knew what that meant. But for this to happen  _ now _ of all times? Just as I had come to know Kaname-san, and… and…

But that would be the least of my worries, after having been so painfully mistaken for cheese.

* * *

_ Cheese. _

_ Cheese…?! _

_ CHEESE! _

_ MORE CHEESE! _

_ Please… let me eat… more cheese… just a little more cheese… _

_ No… don’t turn me into cheese! _

**_BOOM_ **

* * *

**** “Mami!” Nagisa Momoe stares eagerly about the huge, colorful and busy sweet shop, unsure of where to first focus her attention. “Everything looks so tasty!” The child giggles, licking her lips with delight. “I want cheese! Cheesey cheesey cheese!”

There are hundreds and hundreds of delectable items on display, the tastiest, most palatable scents emanating from each and every single one of them. And Nagisa Momoe has been given the greatest treat, being able to lay eyes on it all. All of these yummy sweet things under one roof.

Mami is glad that with this one train ticket to Tokyo, to take Nagisa to the biggest sweet shop in the country, she has been able to afford her little cousin these moments of happiness. Away from her sick, ailing aunt— Nagisa’s poor mother.

The long standing, unfortunate rivalry between the Tomoe and Momoe sides of the family continues to divide them. But Mami does her best to stay optimistic, even in the face of disapproval. To make all her family— and her Bebe —happy.

But, now is not the time to dwell on such troubling family matters. Mami forgets them, only focusing her attention on ensuring that she is not separated from her cousin in the giant candy store. Nagisa smiles, as she fills her basket full of sweets. She and Mami walk past a huge display of strawberry flavored Rocky stick candy, which, quite peculiarly, features a strange white catlike stuffed toy on top. Mami doesn’t believe she’s ever seen such a mascot for Rocky, but doesn’t give it a second thought.

“Mami…” Nagisa seems disappointed. “Where’s the cheese?”

“I don’t believe they sell cheese in a candy store, Bebe,” Mami says, smiling sweetly as she invokes her cousin’s sweet moe nickname.

Nagisa looks crestfallen by this news. “I want cheese! Cheese! Why is there no cheese?!”

“Quiet down, dear,” Mami laughs gently, patting her little cousin on the head. “I promise I’ll get you the best cheese, okay? It’ll be the best cheese ever. Just you wait!”

“I can’t wait!” Nagisa insists, pouting adorably. “I wish there were cheese right here!” She looks at her older cousin with a soft, childish grumpy face. “Sometimes, I wish you would turn into cheese, Mami!”

Mami, finding this hilarious, giggles warmly. “But I don’t want to be cheese, Bebe!”

“But I want cheese!”

“I know you do. I know. But it’ll be okay.” Mami again gently tousles Nagisa’s hair. “I promise we’ll get cheese, and it won’t have to be me, okay? After all, you don’t want to go eating me up now, now do you? I won’t be able to get you any more cheese if you eat me!”

Nagisa, giving into this logic, nods in agreement. That ever so sweet, innocent, wide-eyed babyish look persists within her eyes. “Okay, Mami. I won’t eat you. I promise.” She smiles once more, and takes her older cousin’s hand. “Let’s go get cheese!”

Nagisa’s playful enthusiasm ever so endearing to Mami, she nods back and leads her cousin out of the store.

* * *

“Mami? Is that you?”

The voice that rings in my ears when I come to is all too familiar. Almost instantly, I realize the reason behind the thoughts that had been nagging at me, in my last moments as a magical girl.

The sweet shop in Tokyo. Back on that day when I had set out to cheer her up. Help her forget about her mother. I should have seen it. It should have hit me! The sweet shop, and the labyrinth, one and the same place!  _ How did I not realize?! _

“Bebe?!” My eyes flutter open. My eyelids feel lighter than usual, as if my being has partially dissolved into mist.

I am in my apartment, and my little cousin sits before me. Tea is present, but neither of us are eager to drink.

Nagisa looks as innocent as she ever did, puzzled. But I am even further puzzled. My cousin should be dead. She vanished years ago, along with my aunt.

“What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know,” she responds, putting a thoughtful finger to her chin. “But… I think just before now, I wanted cheese, and then… I ate cheese… but—” Nagisa suddenly looks panicked. “No! No, I turned into cheese! I turned into cheese, and—”

“Nagisa, slow down.” Coming closer, I sit down next to her. “Are you alright? Can you tell me everything you remember? Do you… do you remember how… how she…”

“Mother was going away, and I was sad.” Nagisa’s perplexed expression becomes diluted with sorrow. "And I remember a cute kitty. A cute, white magic kitty… and…”

“A white… magic… kitty?” I gasp, suddenly connecting the dots mentally. “No… no…” Grabbing Nagisa’s shoulders urgently, I look her in the eyes desperately, and I think I can see it now. The bright, warped, all too delighted face of that _thing_ , its appetite, its…

“Please, Nagisa! Tell me everything about this white kitty!”

Even more confused now by my reaction, Nagisa nods gently. “Okay, Mami. I will.”

* * *

“Mother!” Nagisa cries, her tears falling rapidly, like a waterfall, onto the body of her dying mother. “Please, no, you can’t! You can’t go! I want to eat one more piece of cheesecake with you!”

There is an empty platter atop the nightstand next to the hospital bed, parallel to Nagisa’s position. Cheesecake crumbs lie atop of it, and Nagisa wishes there were more. She wants her mother to enjoy as much delicious cheese as possible in their last moments together, to distract from the inevitability of her impending death.

It may be surprising to see a child to think this way, but Nagisa has accepted her mother’s fate. She only desires to ease the pain of the loss as much as possible, and cheese is the only way she knows how to do that.

“I’m sorry, Nagisa,” her mother says, with a soft, sorrowful smile. “Cheesecake isn’t very healthy for me anyway. It’s best that I don’t eat it.”

“But you’re dying!” Nagisa insists. “Why are you worried about that? It doesn’t matter, Mother! We can eat as much cheese as we like until you go! One more cheese!” She sobs. “Please!  _ Please!” _

“If you really want cheese that badly, I think I can help you!”

The calm, collected, businesslike voice echoing through Nagisa’s head takes her by surprise. Somehow instinctively knowing the direction of the source, she turns her attention to the other side of the infirmary room, and discovers a strange-looking creature. It looks something like a cat, except its face appears to be locked in an eternal smile, and its “ears” are more like angel wings, even complete with golden yellow rings resembling halos encircling them.

“Who are you?!” Nagisa believes she recognizes the creature, but can’t place where she may have seen it before. “Have we met before? What do you want with me?!”

“Not formally,” the creature says, seeming untroubled by Nagisa’s confoundment. “My name is Kyubey. I’ve been watching you for a while, Nagisa Momoe. I know how sad you are about not being able to eat one last cheese with your mother. But with my help, you can grant that wish!”

“I… I can?”

“Yes. I am capable of granting any wish! The greatest of desires, the most impossible of miracles! All you need to do is make a contract with me, and become a magical girl!” Kyubey’s head bounces eagerly, and his smile seems to span a little wider than before. “Just one condition— from now on, as a magical girl, you’ll have to fight witches! But I’m sure they’ll be no problem for someone as bright as you, Nagisa!”

“Witches?” Nagisa pictures a silly old green hag in a top hat, and herself, dressed in a cute outfit and fighting against them, foiling their evil plans. “I suppose that can’t be too hard…”

“No, certainly not, if you’re sure!” Kyubey’s head bounces once again. “So how about it, Nagisa Momoe? Will you be a magical girl?”

“Nagisa…” her mother whispers weakly. “Who are you talking to?”

Nagisa looks down at her dying mother, then up at the still smiling Kyubey. Desperate tears line Nagisa’s eyelids. All she can think of, all she wants… is cheese.

“Okay.” Nagisa nods. “I’ll become a magical girl, Kyubey! Please, let Mother and I have one more slice of cheesecake together before she dies!”

“Very well. Good decision!” Kyubey’s wing-ears flutter slightly, and Nagisa feels something fundamentally changing deep within herself. A small, egg-shaped jewel, colored in Nagisa’s favorite color, purple, appears in her hands, and one slice of cheesecake materializes before her on the platter.

Nagisa’s mother, without saying a word, takes a bite of the cheesecake. Nagisa does so as well, not paying much mind to her mother’s blank expression as they eat. Within a short few minutes, the cake is gone.

Kyubey, his expression monotonously cheerful, sits by and watches. “I hope you enjoyed your cake, Nagisa!”

“Nagisa…” Nagisa’s mother holds out her hand. “Why… did I eat more cheesecake…? I wasn’t… going to…” Her voice trails away, as the light in her eyes gradually dims. “Nagisa…”

“Mother… I’m glad we had… one more chee—”

Suddenly, a thought comes to Nagisa. She jolts upwards, her spine stiffening, as she realizes what she has done.

“Kyubey…”

“Yes?”

“Did you say… you could grant any wish?”

“Yes, I did. Why?”

“My wish… no…” Nagisa chokes on the words. “My mother… she could have… I could have… No!” She cries out in despair, and the egg-shaped jewel begins to shift from purple, to a shadowy black. “Kyubey! Please! Take my wish back!”

“Sorry, no can do,” Kyubey replies casually. “It’s a one-time deal!”

“No!” Nagisa screams. “NO!  _ NOOO!!! _ MOTHER!!”

The egg-shaped jewel begins to cloud and crack, as it is filled with more shadow. Nagisa feels that thing inside her, the thing that changed, began to tear her apart from inside out. “No! Kyubey! What’s— what’s happening— how?! What did you do to me?!!”

“Why, this is a surprise,” Kyubey remarked, amused. “I don’t think it’s ever happened this fast before! This might be a new record!”

“A-a new reco— what?!” Nagisa looks at the cat creature with pleading, desperate eyes. “Kyubey! Stop this! Stop this from happening to me!!! PLEASE!”

“Thank you so very much, Nagisa Momoe!” Kyubey says happily. “For someone as young as you who’s only been a magical girl for about five minutes, you’ve got such strong emotional potential. Your contribution will help us Incubators immensely!”

_ “KYUBEY!!!” _

And then the cheese-loving child becomes dead weight, her soul fully detached from what remained of her human existence.

Afterwards, she is only conscious of wanting…

_ Cheese… _

* * *

“No…” I cover my mouth, stunned by the revelation of the truth which Nagisa’s story has shed light on. “Kyubey… tricked us… tricked both of us… and… and…” My face is laced with horror. It can’t be! I was…

“And I’m dead… and… you… Nagisa…”

“What did I… I do…”

“I… we fought… I didn’t realize it, but, you’d become… a witch, and—” I sob, remembering her promise from that day. “You promised me, Bebe! You promised I wouldn’t be cheese!”

“What?” Nagisa suddenly comes to realize what she has done to me. “N-No! Mami, that was a joke! I would never eat you! You’re not cheese! I would never think of you as cheese!” My little cousin joins in on the tears, knowing that her words are useless.

“I’m sorry, Mami, I broke my promise, I-I…” she chokes on the words. The awful horror of what has happened. “I… ate you… I’m sorry…”

I don’t know how I’m here, if I’ve been eaten. In this apartment. And the tea, strangely, seems to have not gotten any less hot than it was in all this time.

It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing to be done. My life as a magical girl, a lie. Useless. I was but a pawn in Kyubey’s mysterious, terrible scheme. And to learn that Nagisa, too, was a victim of this. And I’ve left Kaname-san behind, too. I can’t bear the thought of what I’ve done. How I have sinned, falling prey to the temptation of power rather than succumbing to a normal, peaceful death when I had the chance.

I’m not sure of his aims, but there’s nothing I can do now. I can’t let myself be overtaken by that. All I can do now, is be happy that at least I have my Bebe.

“I forgive you, Bebe.” I wrap my arms around her, crying softly onto her shoulders. “It’s okay. I know all you wanted was cheese. Just cheese. I know you didn’t want to eat me. It’s okay.”

Nagisa is crying, too.

“Thank you, Mami…”

She’s sad, but grateful for my understanding.

There’s little we can do now, but surrender ourselves to our fate. And stay together, forever. Drink tea, eat cheese, and remember what things were like, back then.

Me and my Bebe.

**Author's Note:**

> Using present tense is not a common practice for me. In this case, it just flowed out that way. I feel it fits better with the nature of the drama. Maybe it was good, maybe not, you tell me.
> 
> I do not like the Rebellion movie. I mean, it's a good movie, and it's visually amazing, and it gives some good additional insight into the characters, even if the details it gives are questionable and kind of up to you to accept or reject. I'm just not a fan of the ending. It just seems counter-intuitive to the main series' message, or rather, my personal reading of it. I could elaborate on that but I don't feel like typing a lot today after spending so long typing this story out for so long.
> 
> I know there's not a lot of closure here, but, uh... they're dead. Dead cheesy doornail dead. So, yeah, what closure?
> 
> Again, critique is welcome. I'm a pretty big fan of taking constructive criticism and improving my writing craft, so have at me. I can take it. :)


End file.
